Child found restrained in Memphis home

Six children were removed from the home in the 5600 block of Gaywinds Avenue. (Photo Source: WMC Action News 5)

(WMC) - On Thursday, Memphis police say they found a child chained up in a backyard shed.

Six children were removed from the home in the 5600 block of Gaywinds Avenue. The 8-year-old boy is at the center of the bizarre investigation.

It started when police received a call from a sibling that the child was chained up in the backyard shed, but physically, he wasn't hurt.

"Just to make me think about it, it's awful," said neighbor Elaine Evans. "You know, we speak like you speak to your neighbors, don't try to get in their business, but they seem pretty nice people, but you never know."

Several neighborhood children said the boy was chained up at least once before when they wanted him to play basketball with them.

"Then he was like ‘I can't, I'm chained up' and I said 'why you chained up?' And he said ‘ask my mama,'" said one neighborhood boy.

Police contacted the Department of Children's Services, whose investigators joined officers on the scene for much of the day. DCS is working to determine the relationship between the adults inside the house and the children.

WMC Action News 5's Jason Miles asked one child what he hoped for the 8-year-old.

The child said, "That he get a new home and that they treat him like he really family."

As of Thursday evening, no charges had been filed. The young child in the home was 2 years old and the oldest was 14 years old.